Certain Knowledge, and Certainty by Seeing

I'll read the ayah to you.

A-lam tara ilā alladhī ḥājja Ibrāhīma fī rabbihi an ātāhu Allāhu al-mulk, idh qāla Ibrāhīmu rabbiya alladhī yuḥyī wa yumīt, qāla ana uḥyī wa umīt, qāla Ibrāhīmu fa-inna Allāha yaʾtī bi-l-shamsi min al-mashriq… Have you not thought about him who disputed with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, Allah, because Allah had given him the kingdom? When Ibrāhīm said to him: my Lord is He who gives life and causes death. He said: I give life and cause death. Ibrāhīm said: verily, Allah causes the sun to rise from the east; then cause it to rise from the west. So the disbeliever was utterly defeated. And Allah guides not the people who are ẓālimīn, the wrongdoers.

We can see in this discussion that Ibrāhīm has a strong level of yaqīn: a strong level of conviction, certainty in Allah (swt). In the issue of life and death, Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) had ʿilm al-yaqīn, certain knowledge. His knowledge was certain. It couldn't shake the īmān of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) on this point. He knew that Allah is the one who gives life, and he knew that Allah is the one who takes it away.

But Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) wants to reach the level of ʿayn al-yaqīn. ʿAyn al-yaqīn is certainty by seeing, or witnessing. Ibrāhīm had ʿilm al-yaqīn, the knowledge of yaqīn, certain knowledge; but he wants to reach the level of certainty with witnessing, or seeing. So Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) has no doubts in Allah (swt), because this argument that he made with the king is based on certain knowledge. You can't argue like that about life and death when your knowledge is shakeable, or your īmān is shakeable.

Sometimes we read the ayah — the ayah that I'm going to read right now — and we think that Ibrāhīm had doubts in Allah. No, he didn't. He had ʿilm al-yaqīn, certain knowledge. But he just wants to reach the level of ʿayn al-yaqīn.